Example of Interacting with Your Child as You Read

Below are each of the page spreads and what we discussed for each.

 I started by asking Natalie what she thought the book would be about based on the cover.  She said a bunny rabbit.  Then I asked her what time of year it was, and we talked it through until we arrived at spring.  Then I asked what she thought would happen to the rabbit.  We both thought he was going to get lost.  Other things we could have done were look at the letters and point out the title and author. 

 I told Natalie that I thought it was going to be a book about colors. 

I asked them what they saw that was green.  I had William go first and he picked the frog.  Then Natalie pointed out the two grasshoppers.  I picked the turtle.  

 

When we got here, I told Natalie I was wrong and it wasn't a color book.  It was a book about wondering.  

 

What a fun page!  I had Natalie look out the window at our tree and asked if she could imagine a rabbit that big.  I told her I would be a little scared, but she said he looked nice.  We then looked at the little bunnies and said they didn't look scared. 

 

 

 We didn't say anything about this page the first time, but we could have talked about the time of day and weather or the changes in colors.  We could have wondered what it would be like to be a rock, too. 

 

 When we opened to this page, I asked Natalie what she thought he would wonder next. 

 

 I pointed out he was using his ears as wings.  I asked Natalie if she would like to fly like a butterfly, too.  She said she would and that we should get her a butterfly costume. 

 

I asked them what the new animal was before reading the text.  William told us it was a kitty.  

We talked about the family bunnies in the background.

 

 Ugmugas!

 

 I said how they were all snuggling and sleeping together, but Natalie pointed out quickly that Little White Rabbit is not sleeping.  I love this last picture and we could have talked more about how he continued to wonder, perhaps because he can always come home and feel safe.